Electronic Arts has allowed numerous fan games to release, free of charge, including remakes of their existing games. However, they have never GRANTED permission for these games, as that would imply some legal relationship that they cannot afford to see exist. So fan games exist in a sort of “grey   Read More ...

Ultima is a series with a long history of games. Many of the early games feature events and settings that make them difficult to tie to the rest of the series, although some retconning has been done toward that end. Older games are not the only culprits, however. Shortened development   Read More ...

There is more to being a game developer than the tools you use to build the game. To be a successful game designer, you have to be willing to work on yourself, as your personality, drive, and knowledge are what will lead your team. The Mind of a Game Developer   Read More ...

Hardware and Software Requirements for Game Development Part Two I’m not a professional developer, but this is what I’ve found will work for independent game studios. We can’t say, “I want this to run on anything made in the last year”, because that is far too encompassing: from all-in-ones from   Read More ...

If you get into development, what should you have before you begin? How can you improve your process? A lot depends on what you do. If you are a programmer, your needs are different than if you are a graphics artist. However, if you are a developer, you need to   Read More ...

One of the fundamental systems in any RPG is the conversation system, which allows players to converse with the people of your world. Ultima has always featured some form of conversation, although in the early days a simple “Use” on an NPC would provide only a small amount of text.   Read More ...

Games are about story. They are about having fun, doing something noble, heroic, tragic, or whatever allows you to get the escape you desire. However, Ultima games are also rooted in a deep philosophy. A good Ultima game is about symbols. Symbols in the Ultima games are many and varied:   Read More ...

One of the first things a novice game developer asks is, “When should I release my game?” A serious game developer knows that there is only one real answer, “When it is done.” Done, unfortunately, means different things to different people. Most game developers are artists, designers, programmers, scripters, and   Read More ...

Beginning with Ultima V, all characters in the game followed schedules. As the complexity of the games increased, the complexity of the schedules do likewise. During Ultima VII and Serpent Isle, a blacksmith characters might go to bed at night, eat breakfast in the morning, go to work and craft   Read More ...

Creating a game is a big task, and can be overwhelming for a single developer or small team. In this ongoing series of posts, I’d like to introduce different concepts, and explore how they shape the game that you make. After all, the goal is to make the best game   Read More ...